Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, but Delia's mind was racing. Aiko and Elric's movements were so slow to her that she felt as though she could dodge them at any time, and yet, she felt conflicted.
Something inside was screaming logical deductions at her. Her mother was long gone, how could she possibly know whether she was alive or not? And, how could she guarantee that even if she was alive, that she would continue to be after Delia died?
And what about this voice? Just who was it? Also, why wasn't anyone reacting to an outside influence interfering with the proceedings? That clearly meant that the actions of this person were being covertly accepted and thus wasn't that all the more reason for Delia to ignore them? After all, that meant this person had to work in secret because if they pushed the line too far, what they were doing wouldn't be allowed anymore.
If they could have pushed it as far as they wanted, why hadn't they just killed Delia by infiltrating her mind instead of just making her cough of blood? It was clear they had to hold back.
All logic pointed toward Delia not listening to this voice. Just dodge the swords and kill these fools. You can avenge the death of your mother later, but if you're dead, you would have lost the opportunity.
Delia's constitution and path seemed to whisper in her ear. The path of the Absolute doesn't allow negotiation. The ice hell queen is a ruler, since when did she bend to the demands of others?
Unbeknownst to Delia, Patia-Neva had hidden himself in space to watch this struggle. This was the struggle that he too had gone through, however, Delia's was on an entirely knew level.
Patia-Neva hadn't had any idea that his daughter had the Infinite Ice Hell God constitution. At first, he had only thought that Delia had an affinity for the Absolute like he had. But, he was clearly wrong.
The Infinite Ice Hell constitution brought the problems of the Absolute path to a new tier. The absolute path itself already threatened to remove all of your humanity. It was a path that if you wanted to progress in, you had to throw away all of your emotions, all of your thoughts of servitude and empathy, anything of the like had to be done away with.
When you then piled the Infinite Ice Hell constitution on top of this, you brought together two things that were perfectly in sync. A constitution and a path married to each in complete perfection.
However, in the end, it was still a choice. Patia-Neva had chosen to abandon his wife for power. He didn't sleep or eat well. In fact, he had become an entirely new person, until he finally realized he had chosen the wrong path.
The truth was that Patia-Neva hadn't chosen power for a selfish reason. All those years ago when Ri's mother had saved him, he had been brought into an all new world, a world where the fate of their entire universe hung in the balance. If he wanted to help, he needed power. So, he sought it out in the only way he knew how.
And now… It was his daughter's turn. How would she choose? What path would she go down?
Delia struggled. 'Attack!'
Her mind screamed. There was no time, she had to choose. If she didn't move now, she was really die.
'What mother?' Delia thought angrily. 'You mean the woman that abandoned me in my youth? I can't even remember her face! Why should I give up my life for her?!'
Patia-Neva could only sigh as he watched his daughter make the same mistake he had… He had hoped that she would be different. Delia was such a caring and naïve soul. She always wanted to see the best in everyone, even when that led to her being on the losing side.
There was a point in her life where she had done her best to fake a cold exterior, but anyone who knew her knew what she was really like.
Delia lost her mother. Then she lost her father, who was supposedly present, but not at the same time. And then she lost her best friend Meiying. And then her big sister, Madeleine went off for months at a time, never truly leaving them with the moments they used to have together.
And now, she had finally found a path to power. With this path, even if she lost her mother, she could train to avenge her. Even if she lost her father, she could train to avenge him. She could go and save Meiying with her own two hands. She could be powerful enough that Madeleine would never have to train on her own again.
'This power, I need it. Even if I have to cut off everything else!' Delia seemed to have made a decision and shifted her weight to ignore the words of the expert who had tried to sway her decisions.
'This is your path…' Patia-Neva thought solemnly.
The cheers of the crowd were deafening. They loved seeing such a domineering display of power, and in what seemed like an instant, Delia had wiped out all competition but two!
Suddenly, Patia-Neva's ear twitched. As a celestial level expert, his sensitivity to things were on an entirely other level as compared to others – especially when you consider the control over your body energy cultivation gives you.
Even in a stadium filled with tens of millions of people, Patia-Neva heard fervent shouting coming from one boy – a boy he happened to recognize.
Eli didn't know what he was doing, but he knew that something was wrong. Something felt off.
"THIS ISN'T YOU, DELIA!"
A small smile played on the features of Patia-Neva as he listened to these words.
'Maybe since I can't get to my daughter… You can…' With a wave of his hand, a small bit of imperceptible celestial will gripped onto the sound waves of Eli's words.
Using the same method of communication essence gathering experts could use, Patia-Neva transferred the words of someone else instead of his… Directly into Delia's ears.
All Delia saw was a sheet of white. She had entered a new world and there was a singular door before her. She had the feeling that this was the last percentages of her constitution. All she had to do was step forward, and she wouldn't even need Dyon's pill. She'd have reached perfection on her own.
She reached for the doorway in the land of snow, prepared to take the last step toward power.
"THIS ISN'T YOU, DELIA!"
The words hung in the air. Delia's movements froze.
In the outside world, all anyone saw was Delia's sword stop in the air, seemingly unwilling to pierce through Elric's advancing figure.
Her constitution disappeared, returning her, her usual beautiful olive skin and warm hazel eyes.
Delia closed her eyes as Aiko and Elric approached. She felt no pain as Aiko's steel blades tore through her once flawless skin and she didn't flinch as Elric's fist of wind threatened to tear her torso in half.
The crowd was stunned. At this point, there was not a single person who hadn't witnessed the battle, it was too attention grabbing. Madeleine was still not being allowed to move freely by her master and Ri was much too far away to do anything. They could only watch as a girl they saw as their own sister fell from the stage.
But, Eli saw something completely different. He saw a girl he had only just admitted he loved finally at peace. He saw an angel falling with a serene smile on her face.
